A SCHOOLBOY from Burley-in-Wharfedale has been selected from almost 300 entrants as the winner of the National Literacy Trust’s Chitty Chitty Bang Bang’s Magical Reading Tour competition.

Eight year-old Jack Hinchcliffe’s’s humorous and descriptive winning entry involves a helicopter which finds the stolen Chitty car.

Jo Ross, a Year 4 teacher at Burley and Woodhead CE Primary School, introduced her pupils to the Chitty Chitty Bang Bang Magical Reading Tour competition to inspire them to read more outside of class.

It led to two-thirds of the class going on to read Frank Cottrell-Boyce’s further adventures of the original Ian Fleming story and an enthusiasm for writing and making up plays and stories at playtimes and at home.

For the competition’s bonus writing category, entrants were asked to write a short story based on a story-starter by Frank Cottrell-Boyce.

Jack's winning entry won him an eReader, book vouchers and a copy of Ian Fleming’s Chitty Chitty Bang Bang series.

Ms Ross said: “I read 'Chitty, Chitty Bang Bang Flies Again' to my class in September and they were totally captivated by it.

“The fact that the novel inspired children to write, share stories and read in their own time is fantastic.”

She said Jack was “shocked and delighted” to win, as were his family.

The competition’s organiser, the National Literacy Trust is the charity behind the Bradford Literacy Campaign – an initiative which is working in partnership with Bradford Council and other local partners to raise awareness of the importance of literacy skills in the district.